1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clip for clamping a cloth to be mounted on an embroidery frame which is used for conducting embroidery sewing on an embroidering machine, and more particularly, to the clip for clamping the cloth which is intended to increase a stretching and holding force with respect to a cloth to be worked which has been held on the embroidery frame in a stretched manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of an embroidery frame for holding a cloth to be worked in a stretched manner on occasion of conducting embroidery sewing on an embroidering machine, a structure which includes, for example, an outer frame having a pair of clamping mechanisms and an inner frame to be fitted to an inside of this outer frame has been known. The above described outer frame and inner frame are formed in a rectangular shape, respectively having corner parts and straight parts.
In case of setting the cloth to be worked on the embroidery frame having such a structure, the cloth to be worked is first placed on the outer frame, and in this state, the inner frame is fitted to the inside of the outer frame, thereby to hold the cloth to be worked between the outer frame and the inner frame. Then, by pulling a part of the cloth projecting from the embroidery frame, the cloth to be worked will be set in a stretched manner. In this state, screw members which are constituent elements of the aforesaid clamping mechanisms provided on the outer frame are rotated to tighten the clamping mechanisms, thereby to clamp the outer frame onto the inner frame.
By the way, the embroidery frame of this type has had the following problem. Specifically, even though the outer frame is clamped onto the inner frame by means of the clamping mechanisms, the straight parts of the outer frame is not able to be sufficiently clamped onto the straight parts of the inner frame, because the respective straight parts of the outer frame and the inner frame have long lengths. Therefore, in case of conducting embroidery sewing for example on a thin cloth, particularly the straight parts of the frames cannot be sufficiently clamped. In such a case, it sometimes happens that a part of the cloth to be worked which has been held between the straight parts of the outer frame and the inner frame might be withdrawn toward the inner frame by tension of a thread for embroidery sewing, and this part of the cloth might be slackened. Consequently, an embroidery pattern may become smaller than desired, and contorted, or wrinkles may occur around the embroidery pattern, resulting in a poor outer appearance.
As a countermeasure against such problem, the following arts are disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. JU-A-52-25863. An art as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 of the above mentioned publication (hereinafter referred to as a first art) has such a structure that a clip made of a leaf spring is fitted to an outside face of an inner frame on which a cloth to be worked has been placed, and after both upper and lower faces of the cloth to be worked together with the inner frame are clamped with the clip, the inner frame is fitted inside the outer frame. Moreover, an art as shown in FIGS. 5 to 8 of the publication (hereinafter referred to as a second art) has such a structure that an inwardly protruding flat plate is formed along an inner periphery of a frame body, and an engaging pipe of a frame shape is fixedly provided on the flat plate. In this state, a plurality of locking clips each having a substantially hexagonal sectional shape are fitted to the engaging pipe, thereby to clamp the cloth to be worked along an entire circumference of the engaging pipe so as to hold the cloth in a stretched state.
However, according to the above described first art, although the clip can clamp the cloth to be worked onto the inner frame, the clip is simply engaged with the outer frame in a manner just placed inside the outer frame. Accordingly, there has been such anxiety that the clip which is clamping the cloth to be worked may be displaced with vibrations or so, on occasion of conducting the embroidery sewing, and the cloth may become slackened. In order to correct the slack, the inner frame together with the clip must be dismounted from the outer frame, but it is not easy to mount or dismount the clip. Moreover, according to the above described second art, because the engaging pipe is provided on the flat plate of the frame body, the frame body becomes inevitably larger in width, and therefore, a range to be embroidered will be decreased. Further, in order to obtain a sufficient stretching and holding force of the locking clip, it is necessary to make both a diameter of the engaging pipe and a diameter of the locking clip larger, and consequently, the engaging pipe will undesirably protrude upwardly. For this reason, this locking clip cannot be applied to a sewing machine intended for home use in which a space above the sewing machine cannot be sufficiently secured on occasion of conducting the embroidery sewing.